Through The Narrow Lanes Of Calcutta

As a child growing up in the developing district of Bally, a small town in Howrah situated on the north western side of Kolkata, I wasn’t much used to seeing the red green houses that North Kolkata is famous for. The other side of Hooghly river always seemed like a mystery to me. It wasn’t long before my family shifted to Kolkata. As my board exams started to draw near, I started going out for tuitions. I remember the first time I went to attend my Mathematics class in Jorasanko (famous for Jorasanko Thakur Bari, Rabindranath Tagore’s home). It was a very old house with an entrance porch, red brick walls and green painted windows. The lane that led to this house also featured the famous Marble Palace on one side. The first impression I had at that time was that the house needed restoration. In fact, all of the surrounding houses gave an impression of a place soon to be in ruins. Fortunately, the people were not so dull.

The hustling of crowd, the slight drizzle, smell of a chai and cigarettes from around the corner and the continuous multitude of people going about their daily activities made the same building look like an experienced veteran who shielded this microcosm that the intermingling lanes created. North Calcutta is filled with similar kind of century old buildings and thousands of small lanes. One of the busiest train hubs of India, Sealdah Station is also situated hereArchitecture in Kolkata is largely remnants of headquarters of the British Calcutta that they left behind when they shifted capital. However, people did not let the city just fade away. Many Zamindars (landowners) had made their own grand homes that had an entrance courtyard to publicize the land they owned. Later these houses came to be known as ‘courtyard houses of north Calcutta’ which were architecturally as well as culturally rich. It took the climatic factors into account and at the same time paid importance to culture by having raised plinths on one side (called mandap) for big events like Durga puja or Kali Puja. The mandap usually consisted of apses set behind intricately designed arches. Culture was an integral part of everyone’s life. This Bengali European style of architecture that came about was unique to Calcutta. My teacher’s house in Jorasanko was a three storied house where an entire joint family resided. It must have been bought by his grandfather. Initially these houses were part of the village called Sutanuti, one of the three big villages that came together to form the modern-day Calcutta. This house had elements that were subtle yet beautifully implemented like the wrought iron grills that had a soothing pattern, intricate and detailed cornices, red oxide floors finished properly around the edges and carved canopies on the balconies. These houses, when they were built around late 19th and early 20th century, had turned out to be a huge success for the brick industry run by the middle-class families. Brick production continued to flourish as can be seen in most red brick houses predominant in that region.

However, this did not last long. In 1977, the Left Front came to power in Bengal and ruled till 2011 until Trinamool led by Mamata Banerjee took over. The Left Party tried to bring industrial developments in Bengal and though they failed due to complex land acquisition issues and politics, they had already brought down these authentic houses that had served generations. Also, with time as these houses get older, they become harder to maintain so people have started selling off their houses. The sad part is that since people don’t value the structure or architecture of these houses, they sell off their houses at the same price as the land. The surrounding houses in that lane also show similar features but in many of the houses the ground floor has been modified to make shops and stalls. This is an example of how the building got modified by the people themselves. The government can also influence the place by constructing new high rises. This issue of demolishing the houses of North Calcutta went unnoticed for years until recently when people started to realize that this process diminishes the flame of so called heritage and ethos of a place. Amit Chaudhuri, Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and is Professor of Contemporary Literature at the University of East Anglia has made this issue global and has requested the Mamata Banerjee led government to look into the matter. A small initiative but it is something that might go a long way in preserving Calcutta’s heritage. This petition was even signed by renowned individuals like Amartya Sen.